Christmas Programs and Our Christmas Tree

First we had Skogen's Christmas program.

 He was really unsure.

 He did a great job with the actions of the first song, but then sort of checked out after that. It got pretty boring for him, I think.

 I thought this one was cute of him talking to his friend Dominik.

 Skogen with his main classroom teacher, Mrs. B.

 We ran into Maida's teacher, Mrs. S., and Maida had to have a picture with her, too!

 Right after Skogen's program, we went to pick out a Christmas tree!

 Maida enjoyed looking at the trees, but the boys had more fun ripping up and down the tree aisles, knocking snow off of the branches of the trees on their way by.

 It was so cold!  I ended up taking Klaasen to sit in the car because we forgot his mittens.

 The next night we had Maida's Christmas program.

 She did a great job singing and following along, but kept yawning through the entire program!

First Ski of the Season

And Skogen's first time skiing!

Maida: Mom, when people die, do they ever come back to earth again?

Me: Nope.

Maida:  Well, then someday the world is going to run out of people.

Obviously she's forgetting about all those babies she keeps having!  :)
I love her thoughts and how her little mind processes everything. 

"You Mean the World To Me"

by Ramona Merrill

You are the sparkle in the tree lights

the shimmer in the snow

the jingle bells

the yummy smells

you make the season glow!

You are the fig in the figgy pudding

the spice in pumpkin pie

the sugar sweet

in every treat

the twinkle in my eye!

You are the reindeer on the rooftop

the candy in the cane

you are Santa's pack

the klickity-klack

of wheels on a toy train!

You are like a favorite blanket

a cuddly teddy bear

the holly jolly

favorite dolly

sitting in a chair.

You are the sprinkles on the cookies

the'mmm' in butter creams

the stocking stuffed

the pillow fluffed

the magic in my dreams.

Your smile is like a moonbeam

shining on a snowy night

you are full of wiggles

and silly giggles

you are like a candle bright!

You are cuter than a little house

made out of gingerbread

trimmed with gumdrops

and lollipops

all colored green and red.

You are sweeter than any present

ever placed beneath a tree

you may be small

but you beat them all

you mean the world to me!

As we were standing in line to see Santa, the kids were getting really excited! Erik and I enjoyed seeing their excitement and experiencing Christmas from a child's eyes all over again. Watching their smiles and joy, Erik leaned over to me and said, "Doing this with our kids is even better than doing it when I was a kid. Don't laugh at me if I cry." :) It was a very special night for all of us.

More Thanksgiving

I found some more pictures from Thanksgiving on my phone...